Regulate us, but don’t kill us!

The biggest auctioneer of imported used heavy equipment and motor vehicles in the country is appealing to the government not to kill the business but instead regulate it to make it grow.

In a position paper sent to The STAR, Dominic Sytin, president of United Auctioneers, Inc. (UAI), said the auction business is nothing but another form of selling that is used in numerous countries including the United States, Japan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia and even Thailand and Indonesia.

"There is nothing special or extraordinary in auctions," he said. "It is only new as far as Filipinos are concerned."

The UAI has been conducting "unreserved" public auctions for the past three years, having learned the basics from the US firm Ritchie Brothers which popularized the trade in the Subic Freeport. The word "unreserved" means there are no minimum bid prices and that all items must go during the auction days.

Sytin said that prior to the introduction of unreserved auctions in the country, Filipinos had to go to truck and heavy equipment dealers and haggle over the price. More often than not, they went home empty-handed since the prices of the trucks or heavy equipment were foisted on them in a "take-it-or-leave-it" manner.

"In unreserved auctions, buyers pick out the items they need and name their price in the auction process," Sytin said. "How is this possible? The auction process shortens the marketing and distribution chain by doing away with importers, dealers, retailers and agents who charge commissions at each level. The auction cuts the price in half because there are less middlemen."

Based on UAI’s records, 35 percent of those who bought in its auctions were from local government units, barangays, municipalities, congressional districts and provinces. Another 35 percent comprised private contractors accredited by government contractors.

"The used trucks, heavy equipment and service vehicles bought from our auctions are eventually used to pave roads, build bridges, construct hospitals, schools and low-cost houses for the Filipino masses. Far-flung areas in the mountains are now within reach by local government officials through affordable vehicles they acquired from us," Sytin said.

"Our auctions accomplish what traditional dealers cannot – offer the public a variety of items from hard-to-find heavy equipment to the more popular six-wheeler trucks, to farm tractors, to generators. The auction is really a giant department store for all sorts of items," he added.

Sytin said local car manufacturers should not complain since only 15 percent of the more than 1,500 "lots" they offer for bidding in every auction are passenger vehicles.

Aside from being an equalizer ("We give every Filipino the chance to bid and buy an item at a price he can afford to pay"), auctions, according to Sytin, also serve as an income-generating business for the government.

Since the auctions started, he said UAI and other auction companies have generated more than P300 million in revenues for the government in terms of duties and taxes and more than P60 million in land lease payments in the Subic Freeport. "We also generated more than P15 million in port charges and have given jobs to 5,000 residents of Bataan, Olongapo, Zambales, Pampanga, Valenzuela City and Bulacan," he said.

Sytin also stressed that UAI has always followed government rules and regulations, particularly the Clean Air Act and the rules of the Land Transportation Office on roadworthiness of vehicles. He said if the government sees things that need to be corrected or improved, then this is the time to do so.

"Now is the time to study how we can regulate auctions and make them work for the interest of the whole country," he said. "The government should regulate us, not kill us. There are still thousands of roads there that have to be built, hundreds of bridges that have to be erected, and countless hospitals, schools and low-cost houses that have to be constructed. These can only be accomplished if we give auctions a chance."